The final goodbye

Two Common Mistakes People Make When Ordering Headstones

24 November 2020 by Monica Ruiz

When ordering headstones for their relatives, partners or friends, these are the mistakes that people have a tendency to make.

Not waiting until the funeral is over to decide what to have engraved on the headstone

Whilst they are liaising with the funeral home to organise their loved one's funeral, many people will choose the engraving for the deceased's headstone, instead of waiting until the funeral is over to do this. Most do this simply because they want to get all of these practicalities over and done with in one fell swoop.

However, it is usually better for a person to wait until they have finished making the arrangements before making decisions about the headstone engraving. The organising of a funeral, which entails making a long list of decisions in a short period of time whilst dealing with feeling extremely sad, tends to leave most people feeling burned out.  If a person decides what to have engraved on the headstone when they're also trying to choose flower arrangements, organise transport, write a eulogy and create a guest list, the chances that they will end up happy with the engraving they pick whilst in this flustered, anxious and tired state will be quite low.

Conversely, if they wait until the funeral is done and the number of concerned visitors to their home has begun to decline, then they'll be better able to think clearly and choose an engraving that is a good fit for the deceased. For example, the difficult but therapeutic process of going their deceased's relative's belongings after the funeral could yield items that might serve as inspiration for the headstone. If, for instance, a widow comes across a beautiful poem her deceased husband wrote, she could have this inscribed on the headstone.

Not correcting typos on the headstone

Sometimes, if a person gives the funeral home who is ordering the headstone on their behalf a very long inscription, the person may end up making a few typos that end up being included on the headstone. Whilst those who run headstone production businesses will always spell-check their clients' submitted inscriptions, mistakes can still happen if, for example, the deceased person has a name that can be spelt in multiple ways and the client ordering the headstone chooses the wrong name spelling.

Some people who realise that they've made typos in the inscription that have been engraved on the headstone don't bother asking for this to be fixed, because they are worried that it will involve a huge amount of work (such as the removal of the headstone), be expensive or that pointing out their own error will make them look silly.

However, most headstone businesses will have dealt with this issue before and will be happy to help their client resolve it. If the typo is minor, they may be able to fix the error without removing the headstone from the grave, by sanding down or engraving over the incorrect letter at the gravesite. Additionally, provided correcting the typo will not take too long to correct, they may even be prepared to do it for free or for a very modest fee.

For more information, contact a headstone service.

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